Adapting training methods to specific teacher traits to best facilitate the training effects for preservice teachers is an important, yet neglected, topic in aptitude-treatment interaction research. This study investigated interactions between four personal traits (CT-dispositions, thinking styles, CT-skills, and intrapersonal intelligence) and…

This work proposes an approach to remote learning of robotic cells based on internet and simulation tools. The proposed approach, which integrates remote-learning and tele-operation into a generic scheme, is designed to enable students and developers to set-up and manipulate a robotic cell remotely. Its implementation is based on a dedicated…

The objective of this article is to study the network and virtual reality technologies for developing a virtual dinosaur museum, which provides a Web-learning environment for students of all ages and the general public to know more about dinosaurs. We first investigate the method for building the 3D dynamic models of dinosaurs, and then describe…

This article presents an interview with Jeremy Koester, an eighth grade math teacher and football coach at Alamo Heights Junior School in San Antonio, Texas. In this interview, Koester describes his use of technology in his classes and describes his dream of advancing Second Life (SL) as a distance education environment. SL is a "3-D virtual…

For the thirty-seventh year, the Research and Theory Division and the Division of Instructional Design of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) sponsored the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Jacksonville, Florida. This year's Proceedings…

The objective of this article is to investigate the computer animation and virtual reality technologies for developing a virtual marine museum. The museum consists of three exhibition areas. The first area displays fishes in freshwater, including creeks, rivers, and dams in Taiwan. The second area exhibits marine ecology and creatures of different…

This article describes a university-sponsored experiential-based simulation, the NANO SCENARIO, to increase the public's awareness and affect attitudes on the societal implications of nanoscience and nanotechnology by bringing together diverse stakeholders' perspectives in a participatory learning environment. Nanotechnology has the potential for…

In this paper, I review both mathematics education and CSCL literature and discuss how we can better take advantage of CSCL tools for developing mathematical proof skills. I introduce a model of proof in school mathematics that incorporates both empirical and deductive ways of knowing. I argue that two major forces have given rise to this…

Two major obstacles to using problem-based learning methods with writing in elementary school classrooms are the time it takes to design the learning environment and the time required for students to interact at their own pace with ill-structured problems used to spur student writing. This study examined whether game elements could be used along…

This article discusses our teaching approach in graduate level Engineering Statistics. It is based on the use of modern technology, learning groups, contextual projects, simulation models, and statistical and simulation software to entice student motivation. The use of technology to facilitate group projects and presentations, and to generate,…

A series of computer simulations was run to measure the relationship between testlet validity and the factors of item pool size and testlet length for both adaptive and linearly constructed testlets. Results confirmed the generality of earlier empirical findings of H. Wainer and others (1991) that making a testlet adaptive yields only marginal…

The objectives of this study were to: examine the potential interaction between students' epistemological beliefs and placement in a simulation condition (constructivist versus non-constructivist) on conceptual development; and to assess whether a constructivist computer simulation experience would result in a greater degree of conceptual change…

Type I error rates of the likelihood ratio test for the detection of differential item functioning (DIF) were investigated using Monte Carlo simulations. The graded response model with five ordered categories was used to generate data sets of a 30-item test for samples of 300 and 1,000 simulated examinees. All DIF comparisons were simulated by…

An attempt was made to determine which item response theory (IRT) equating method results in the least amount of equating error or "scale drift" when equating scores across one or more test forms. An internal anchor test design was employed with five different test forms, each consisting of 30 items, 10 in common with the base test and 5…

The feasibility of quick norms derived by the procedure described by B. D. Wright and M. H. Stone (1979) was investigated. Norming differences between traditionally calculated means and Rasch "quick" means were examined for simulated data sets of varying sample size, test length, and type of distribution. A 5 by 5 by 2 design with a…